The IAF congratulates Tony Smibert Shihan, who has recently been awarded an honour on the occasion of the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth.

Tony has become a Member of the Order of Australia (the abbreviation is AM) and joins a very small group of aikido practitioners who have received such honours in their respective countries (the others, known to me, being the late William Smith, from the UK, Erik Louw, from the Netherlands, and Dany Leclerre Shihan, from Belgium, but who received an honour fron Japan.

We are delighted to announce that we are now able to take registrations for the 2016 IAF Congress in Takasaki! Just follow this link and make sure you read the instructions. We are very excited to see you all in September!

With only two weeks left until the New Year 2016 begins, the IAF would like to extend its best wishes for the winter season to all its members and friends. In 2016, IAF will celebrate its 40th anniversary and its 12th Congress will be held in Takasaki, Japan. The Seminar accompanying the Congress is scheduled to have over 20 of the world's top Aikido instructors. Waka Sensei and Doshu will also be teaching classes to the participants. Everybody is welcome, you do not have to be an IAF-affiliated federation to participate in the seminar and we hope to see as many of you there as possible. More information will be publish in the first quarter of 2016. Online reservations for the event is scheduled to start in April 1, 2016.

New Year's greetings from IAF Chairman Peter Goldsbury (video and music by Guillaume Erard)

The 12th International Aikido Federation Congress will take place in the city of Takasaki in the prefecture of Gunma. We previously reported that the city was building a brand new sports facility to host the event, which we are all very excited about. However, Aikido is not everything and prospective attendees may well be wondering what else Takasaki might have to offer in addition to top level Aikido instruction in fantastic practice conditions. In this video, Irie Yoshinobu Shihan and Guillaume Erard try to answer that exact question. Follow them as they find out about the city and experience some of the excitement that attendees can look forward to when they visit next September. Keep in mind that this is barely scratching the surface and that all the places featured in this video are located whithin a 10 km radius from Takasaki's train station. Much more can be discovered in the rest of the region!

Presentation of the city of Takasaki

Filming and editing by Guillaume Erard and Megumi Fukuda-Erard. Many thanks to Arai Shihan for serving as our guide in Takasaki.

Everybody here in Hiroshima is preparing to celebrate the New Year. The shops were crowded and people were stocking up on the special food (osechi ryori) that is a feature of the new year in Japan. Now is also a good time to review 2014 in the IAF. The main event was the Directing Committee Meeting held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, during the summer. It is customary to hold a training seminar at some point during the week of the meeting and this was excellently organized by Dorin Marchis and his colleagues at the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, which is the IAF member for Romania. The seminar was led by Mr Mitsuteru Ueshiba, who is the Acting Director of the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Tokyo. He was supported by Mr Christian Tissier from France, Mr Ulf Evenas from Sweden, and other instructors who were members of the Directing Committee. Mr Tony Smibert, from Australia, was also on the teaching schedule, but unfortunately he was unable to attend.

Among the matters discussed at the Directing Committee Meeting was the date and location of the 12th IAF Congress. We will hold the Congress, with the customary aikido training seminar, in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture, during the last weekend in September. More information will be posted here as it becomes available.

Finally, on behalf of the Directing Committee, I wish the members of the IAF all the very best for health and happiness in 2015.

Christian Tissier Shihan. Photo Goska SmierzchalskaChristian Tissier Shihan has kindly agreed to join Mr Mitsuteru Ueshiba, Acting Head of the Hombu Dojo, and other senior instructors at the seminar that will accompany the IAF Directing Committee Meeting at Cluj-Napoca, Romania, from September 8 till September 15. The final seminar schedule has not been finally decided yet, but it is likely that Mr Ueshiba will conduct classes on Saturday, Sept 13, and Sunday, Sept 14, while Mr Tissier will arrive in Cluj-Napoca on Thursday, Sept 11, and conduct classes on Friday, Sept 12.

I hope you are all in good health and training hard. In Japan, the winter was quite severe, but spring has come and in Hiroshima the cherry blossoms were in bloom last week and the hanami parties were in full swing. (O-hanami parties are a traditional Japanese way of eating and drinking with friends under the cherry trees. 'Hanami' actually means 'flower viewing', but in my experience the emphasis has usually been on the eating and drinking, with the cherry blossoms providing a very pleasant backdrop.)

In my earlier New Year greetings, I mentioned that the IAF will hold its Directing Committee Meeting in 2014. As you know, the IAF holds meetings as a federation every two years. Meetings of the IAF Directing Committee are held every two years and an IAF Congress is held every four years. The last Congress took place in 2012 and we are now preparing for the Directing Committee Meeting, to be held in 2014. IAF committee meetings are usually attended by the committee members, but members of the Senior Council, Technical Council and the two IAF Auditors can attend as observers.

It is a tradition to hold a training seminar to coincide with the committee meeting and the seminar is open to all aikido practitioners and membership of an IAF member federation is not a condition for participating at the seminar. The seminar will be held on 11-14 September, at Cluj Napoca, Romania and is being organized by the Romanian Aikikai Aikido Foundation, under the leadership of Mr Dorin Marchis.

First I would like to offer New Year greetings to all our members, and also to everybody who practises aikido, wherever you may be. I hope that 2014 will bring health, happiness, prosperity and renewed opprtunities for continuing and deepening aikido training.

For the IAF, 2013 was an eventful and successful year. You can see from this website, and from our Facebook pages, what a success the SportAccord Combat Games has been. We will continue to upload video footage of the aikido demonstrations as these become available.

There are two main events in 2014. We will hold our two-yearly Directing Committee Meeting in Romania. A major training seminar is planned for this meeting and the principal instructor will be Mitsuteru Ueshiba, Waka Sensei. We will add details about the meeting and training seminar as these become available.

In April, the IAF will be represented at the SportAccord Annual General Meeting, which will take place in Turkey. It is very probable that the date and location of the 2015 SportAccord World Combat Games will be decided at this meeting. Once again, details will be posted as these become available.

The SportAccord General Meeting was held in London on Saturday, April 8, 2011.

The IAF was represented at the General Meeting by Peter Goldsbury, IAF Chairman, Stefan Stenudd, IAF Vice-Chairman and August Dragt, IAF Assistant General Secretary. A special guest was Lydia la Riviere Zeijdel, who was the winner of a Spirit of Sport award for her work with the disabled.

As you all know, there was a huge earthquake in north-eastern Japan, with the epicentre very close to the City of Sendai.

On behalf of the entire IAF, I would like to offer our deepest sympathy and condolences to the Aikikai, the All-Japan Federation, and all our aikido friends in Japan, of whatever affiliation, especially fellow aikidoka in the affected areas.

I have been living in Japan for many years and have experienced many earthquakes, but it is obvious that this one was very serious indeed--with a tsunami tidal wave that allowed no time for anyone to take effective precautiuons.

At present I am in the Netherlands, and the local aikido community here is planning training seminars to aid the victims. I hope the IAF can take some initiative here and offer this kind of help on a wider scale. We are a worldwide federation and ths is a golden opportunity to show that aikido works effectively also off the tatami. It is also an opportunity for the international aikido community to give to the aikiido community in Japan a gesture of thanks for what Japan has given us.

Following on the passing away of Tamura Nobuyoshi Shihan, it is my sad duty to record the passing of another direct disciple of the Founder of aikido and a member of the IAF Senior Council. Sugano Seiichi Shihan was appointed by Doshu to membership of the IAF Senior Council at the 10th IAF Congress, held in Tanabe in 2008. It is very unfortunate the Sugano Shihan was not given the time to make his mark on this body, which he would undoubtedly have done in his own quiet way. And anyone who has seen Sugano Shihan teach aikido after his leg was amputated and he received an artificial leg will attest to his total dedication to the art; his total commitment to aikido and to his students.

Sugano Shihan passed away during the Sportaccord Combat Games and the uncertainty created by his illness led to the unfortunate absence of some members of the Aikikai Australia. All the participants at the Combat Games were quite affected when the news was announced, but the two participants who attended the Games from Australia gave a sparkling demonstration they can feel proud of--a testament to Sugano Sensei's memory, and his major contribution to aikido in Australia and the rest of the world.

On behalf of the entire IAF I would like to express our sympathy and condolences to Madame Tamura, Sensei's relatives and friends, the members of the FFAB, Sensei's students and all aikidoka in France and elsewhere, on the death of Tamura Nobuyoshi Shihan.

Tamura Sensei was one of the principal postwar deshi at the Aikikai Hombu. He was a longtime member of the IAF Senior Council and always attended Congresses, at which he taught, with precision, grace and good humour.

It is hardly necessary to add that Tamura Sensei's passing has left a huge gap, which cannot be filled, and that his presence at IAF events will sorely be missed.

As a Japanese, Tamura Sensei probably embraced a combination of Buddhism and Shinto, with a mixture of Christianity, the latter especially in view of the fact that he lived for much of his life in France. So, we can certainly use the hallowed Christian prayer here: